Matzo Balls for Breakfast and Other Memories of Growing Up Jewish - Hardcover

King, Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743260732 ISBN 13: 9780743260732

Publisher: Free Press, 2004

Synopsis

A collection of celebrity anecdotes about their Jewish childhoods includes contributions by such figures as Billy Joel, Billy Crystal, Michael Bloomberg, Woody Allen, and Steven Spielberg. 50,000 first printing.

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Reviews

Fans of Alan King (Name-Dropping: The Life & Lies of Alan King), who died in May, will welcome this collection of over 75 reminiscences by Jews in the arts, politics, religion and sports, which Larry King conceived and organized. Although Alan doesn't contribute a piece, he does provide a succinct and perceptive introduction to each section. While some selections, such as those by Gene Wilder, Sid Caesar and Don Rickles, are too brief, the vast majority offer humorous, touching, informed and engaging perspectives on what it means to be born a Jew. Jerusalem Report contributor David Margolis laments the failure of his parents' generation to pass on a real knowledge of Judaism to their children. Faye Moskowitz (Her Face in the Mirror: Jewish Women on Mothers and Daughters) contributes a funny and moving portrait of her grandmother's magical powers as she kneaded challah or stirred a witch's brew of beets, sugar, garlic, salt, allspice and bay leaves into delicious sweet and sour borscht once a year. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois congresswoman, explores how becoming an elected official made her more conscious of her Jewish identity. Appended are three eulogies given at King's funeral by Billy Crystal, Rick Moranis and Barbara Walters.
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Some sleepless night, pick up this collection of short, sweet reminiscences; it's like an old friend whose many facets never cease to entertain and enlighten. The section "Life in the Jewish Family and Neighborhood" contains recollections from Susan Stamberg, Neil Sedaka, Alan Dershowitz, and others, hailing from Manhattan, Winnipeg, Brooklyn, and, of course, Brighton Beach, that fabled neighborhood of "old country" Jews. "Jew in a Non-Jewish World" contains Neil Simon (speaking of Brighton Beach) on persecution, recalling that "they let me live because I was a good softball player," and Lisa Solod, whose southern accent comes from growing up in the small, tight Jewish community in Morristown, Tennessee--"the proving ground for my life as a Jew." "Milestones and Holidays" includes Leslea Newman (another Brighton Beacher) recalling her bobbeh's (grandmother's) matzo ball soup for seder, served in the pot she inherited and uses today. Outstanding in "My Defining Moment" is Jamie Lee Curtis, who delineates the four major connections she, though raised essentially without religion (as she is raising her children, too), has made to her heritage. What with warmth, wisdom, and humor on hand throughout, this is a book you don't have to be Jewish to like--so enjoy. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743260732
• ISBN 13: 9780743260732
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272